Belfast Agreement

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is their view of the opinion of the Eire Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Brian Cowan, expressed on 3 February, that the Belfast agreement is "part of the Irish Constitution"; and whether any change to the Belfast agreement would require amendment of the Irish Constitution.

Baroness Amos: The Belfast agreement is a political agreement between the British Government, the Irish Government and those Northern Irish political parties represented at the talks concluded on 10 April 1998. The nature of the relationship between the Belfast agreement and the constitution of the Irish Republic is a matter for the Irish Government.

Chad: Sudanese Refugees

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What requests they have received from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for additional resources to care for refugees from Darfur, Sudan, now on the territory of Chad; and in particular for resources to upgrade the airport and associated facilities at Abeche, in eastern Chad, to accommodate the volume of traffic needed by humanitarian agencies.

Baroness Amos: DfID is one of the largest donors to UNHCR operations in Chad for Sudanese refugees, having provided £1 million in October 2003 in response to the initial 16 million dollar (approximately £9 million) appeal. We are aware that the UNHCR is airlifting relief supplies to Abeche in eastern Chad for its operations there. We are not aware of any specific request from UNHCR for resources to upgrade the airport although there is no reason why funds given to UNHCR should not be used for this purpose. Last week a DfID humanitarian adviser visited Chad and held discussions with relief agencies including the UNHCR team working in Abeche. We remain ready to provide further assistance if necessary.

Chad: Sudanese Refugees

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will reallocate some development aid funds from Sudan to Chad.

Baroness Amos: As a result of the conflict in Darfur in western Sudan, refugees have been crossing the border into eastern Chad. It is estimated that there are now 110,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad and that over 650,000 people have been displaced within the Darfur region.
	In response to this crisis, we have contributed over £6 million in humanitarian assistance to United Nations (UN) agencies and international non-governmental organisations. This includes £1 million for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' work in Chad. We are considering further contributions for organisations working on both sides of the Chad/Sudan border.

Uganda

The Earl of Sandwich: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What talks they have held with the Acholi community and the Ugandan President following recent atrocities in northern Uganda, and with what results; and whether they have provided development assistance for monitoring and conflict resolution.

Baroness Amos: Resolution of the conflict in northern Uganda is a priority for the UK and this is an issue in which the Prime Minister is taking a close interest. The conflict was discussed in detail during the meeting between the Prime Minister and President Museveni, when the president visited London at the end of January.
	The DfID office and British High Commission (BHC) in Uganda are in regular contact with representatives of the Acholi community, including religious, traditional and political leaders to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Immediately following the massacre in Lango region on 21 February, DfID was in contact with the leaders of the Acholi community and provided support for discussions between them and community leaders in other parts of northern Uganda focused on easing tribal tensions. It has not yet been possible for BHC and DfID to meet with President Museveni following the recent atrocities.
	The UK recognise that although there has to be a security response against the brutalities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a sustainable peace is not possible through military means alone. For this reason, the UK together with the international community are supporting alternative conflict resolution strategies to the use of force. We are, for example, encouraging President Museveni to strengthen his Presidential Peace Team. We are also supporting amnesty activities and the Amnesty Commission, which encourages LRA combatants to give up their arms. We are exploring a number of avenues for improving local dialogue about peace, including through local FM radio. Between 2001 and 2003 DfID spent £0.9 million in support of conflict reduction and peace programmes. We anticipate spending a further £1.6 million between now and March 2005.

Numeracy

Baroness Seccombe: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the answer by the Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 23 February (HL Deb, col. 4), whether they will publish a table showing for each of the age groups 18–25, 26–35, 36–45, 46–55, 56–65, 66–75 and over 75 the number of adults who have numeracy skills below level 1, and the percentage that number represents for each of those age cohorts.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Skills for Life survey, which was published by the department last October, includes a full breakdown of numeracy level for different age groups in the working population. Table A below is an edited table, showing the number and percentage of those in each age group below level 1, equivalent to a lower grade GCSE, in numeracy. These figures are based on the 2001 census figures of 31.9 million adults aged 16–65. Figures for those aged over 65 are not currently available, as this kind of research focuses on the working population.
	
		Table A—Age and Numeracy below level 1 -- Base: All respondents with numeracy scores
		
			  Total 16–19 20–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–65 
			  (n=8040) (n=461) (n=631) (n=1764) (n=2092) (n=1551) (n=1538) 
			 % below Level 1 47 50 49 43 44 46 53 
			 Number below Level 1 (millions) 15.0 1.2 1.5 3.0 3.2 3.0 3.0 
		
	
	The full table, which was published on page 179 of the survey, is reproduced below for information.
	
		Table 3.A5—Age and numeracy level -- Base: All respondents with numeracy scores
		
			  Total 16–19 20–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–65 
			  (n=8040) (n=461) (n=631) (n=1764) (n=2092) (n=1551) (n=1538) 
			  % % % % % % % 
			 Entry level 1 or below 5 6 4 4 5 6 8 
			 Entry level 2 16 15 14 14 15 16 19 
			 Entry level 3 25 29 30 24 24 24 26 
			 All below Level 1 47 50 49 43 44 46 53 
			 Level 1 28 27 27 28 29 27 27 
			 Level 2 or above 25 23 24 29 27 26 20 
		
	
	[queries]

Armed Forces: Pilots Shortfall

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the current shortfall in pilots in the Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.

Lord Bach: At 1 January 2004, the overall shortfall of trained pilots in the Royal Navy was 25 1 (3.8 per cent). Pilots in the Army were near full manning with a shortfall of 10 1 (1.5 per cent), while in the Royal Air Force, the shortfall of junior officer pilots was 75 1 (4.8 per cent) of the requirement.
	1 Note that these figures are rounded to the nearest five.

Armed Forces: Compulsory Drug Testing Results

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many servicemen or women were required to leave the armed services for failing compulsory drug tests over the past five years.

Lord Bach: The number of service personnel who were discharged from the Armed Forces over the last five calendar years for failing a compulsory drugs test is as follows:
	
		
			 Year The Naval Service The Army The RAF 
			 2003 (1)48 406 (2)19 
			 2002 38 350 11 
			 2001 47 540 15 
			 2000 46 480 8 
			 1999 30 255 7 
		
	
	(1) One sailor who tested positive in 2003 is awaiting a decision on discharge.
	(2) Five RAF personnel who tested positive in 2003 are awaiting a decision on discharge.

Government Cars: Ministers

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What was the average cost of providing a car and driver to enable government Ministers to carry out official duties; and, if separate figures are available, what was the average cost for (a) a Cabinet Minister and (b) a Minister outside the Cabinet, for the latest year for which figures are available.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The responsibility for the provision of ministerial cars and drivers has been delegated under the terms of the Framework Document to the Government Car and Despatch Agency. I have asked its chief executive, Mr Nick Matheson to write to the noble Lord. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
	Letter from the chief executive of the Government Car and Despatch Agency, Nick Matheson, to Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, dated 3 March 2004.
	Lord Bassam of Brighton has asked me in my capacity as the chief executive responsible for the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the average annual cost of providing ministerial transport for Cabinet and non-Cabinet ministers.
	Overall, the average annual cost of ministerial transport, provided by GCDA, for all ministers is £59,901. For Cabinet ministers the average is £65,268 and for ministers outside the Cabinet the figure is £54,570. These figures are based upon the current contracted costs for 2003–04.

Ten-Year Transport Plan

Lord Berkeley: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How much private and public sector funding was allocated in the 10-year Transport Plan for rail freight; and, for each year, how much has been spent.

Lord Davies of Oldham: When the 10-year plan was launched, funding for rail freight comprised, roundly, £- billion from the private sector and £3- billion from the public sector.
	£69 million was provided for freight in 2001–02 including £16 million from the private sector, and £49 million in 2002–03 including £15 million from the private sector.

Alcohol Excise Duty

Baroness Noakes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have concluded their review of the use of tax strips for alcohol excise duty.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Treasury Ministers and their officials are continuing to consult the industry on both the impact of tax stamps for spirits and the industry's proposed package of alternative measures for reducing fraud.

Alcohol Excise Duty

Baroness Noakes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is their estimate of the compliance cost for United Kingdom businesses in terms of (a) one-off costs and (b) annual costs if tax strips for alcohol excise duty were introduced; and
	On which businesses or business sectors the costs of compliance with tax strips for alcohol excise duty would fall if they were introduced; and
	What are the cash flow implications for United Kingdom businesses of the introduction of tax strips for alcohol excise duty, analysed by business sector.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government announced in the Pre-Budget Report that they intend to introduce tax stamps for early 2006 as part of a reinforced strategy to tackle alcohol fraud. Tax stamps would apply only to spirits, as that is the sector in which fraud is estimated to be particularly high. The Government have also invited the industry to put forward alternative proposals which would be equally effective in tackling fraud. Both the practicalities of tax stamps and possible alternative proposals are being considered now in detailed discussions with the industry.
	The costs of compliance for different sectors of the industry would depend on the measures taken to implement tax stamps, and on any measures the Government might introduce to offset that impact. The Government have said that they would consider how the current deferment arrangement for spirits duty could be extended as far as practical in recognition of the cash flow effects of purchasing tax stamps, and freezing spirits duty for the remainder of this Parliament.
	A full regulatory impact assessment will be produced if the Government proceed with this measure. This would make clear which business sectors would incur compliance costs, and what the nature and scale of those costs (one-off, annual, cashflow) would be.

Alcohol Excise Duty

Baroness Noakes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is their estimate of the loss of alcohol excise duty each year due to fraud; and what are the assumptions on which the estimate is based.

Lord Davies of Oldham: HM Customs and Excise's latest estimate of the revenue loss (including duty and VAT) from alcohol fraud in 1999–2000, 2000–02 and 2001–02 are available in its annual report published in December 2003, (HC52). An estimate for 2002–03 is not yet available.
	The assumptions used to produce these estimates are set out in Customs' paper Measuring indirect tax fraud published in November 2001, a copy of which is available in the Library. Subsequent improvements to the methodology are described in the follow-up papers: Measuring indirect tax losses (2002) and Measuring and Tackling Indirect Tax Losses (2003).

Alcohol Excise Duty

Baroness Noakes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether any countries operate effective tax strip systems for alcohol excise duty; and, if so, which.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Tax stamps have been introduced in 40 different countries for a variety of reasons ranging from quality assurance to tackling alcohol fraud.

Lord Chancellor: Cabinet Meetings and Attendance in House of Lords

Lord Trefgarne: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What issue is to be discussed in Cabinet Committee on Tuesday 10 February which requires the Lord Chancellor to give precedence to that duty rather than attend the House.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: It is established practice under Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of the Cabinet and its committees.

Vocational Rehabilitation

Lord Morris of Manchester: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What progress they have made to fulfil their commitment to develop and publish A Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation; and when they expect this to be published.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: Good progress has been made to fulfil the Government's commitment to develop and publish a Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation by late summer 2004. The Government are currently working with stakeholders to take forward the following work strands: drawing out the key messages from existing reviews and research into vocational rehabilitation; learning the lessons from what we currently do; and gathering additional information from stakeholders.

Confederation of British Industry

Baroness Miller of Hendon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Answer by the Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 11 February (HL Deb, col. 1100), whether they regard the Confederation of British Industry as an authoritative source of statistical and factual information relating to business upon which Ministers may be questioned.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Government regard the CBI as an authoritive source of statistical and factual information although they do not necessarily agree with all the figures it produces or the interpretation it places on them.

Genetically Modified Foods

Lord Glentoran: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the Lord Sainsbury of Turville, since appointment as Minister for Science and Innovation, has been present at any meeting or participated in any telephone conversation with Ministers or officials in which genetically modified foods were mentioned or discussed.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: No. Since my appointment as Minister for Science in July 1998, I have not taken part in any government decisions or discussions relating to GM food policy, including the Sci-Bio Committee where I actively remove myself from any discussions taking place on GM food issues and I see no papers on this subject.

Community Punishment Orders

Lord Marlesford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In each of the past five years (a) how many individuals were sentenced to community service; and (b) how many hours in total of community service were awarded by the courts.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The available information, from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database, shows the number of persons sentenced to community punishment orders imposed by courts in England and Wales, and the total hours of community punishment awarded for each of the years 1998 to 2002, is as follows:
	
		Persons sentenced to community punishment orders(3) and total number of hours of community punishment imposed by all courts in England and Wales, 1998 to 2002
		
			 Year Persons sentenced to community punishment (3) Total number of hours awarded (3) 
			 1998 69,749 7,373,633 
			 1999 70,330 7,358,844 
			 2000 69,224 7,200,420 
			 2001 64,426 6,830,099 
			 2002 66,275 6,964,449 
		
	
	(3) Persons sentenced to community punishment orders and community punishment and rehabilitation orders (community service orders and combination orders prior to April 2000). The number of hours includes those awarded for community punishment orders and also for the community punishment component of community punishment and rehabilitation orders. Data are on the principal offence basis.
	Statistics for 2003 will be published in the Autumn of 2004.
	Northern Ireland
	The available information, from the Northern Ireland Office Court Proceedings data sets, shows the number of persons sentenced to community service orders and combination orders imposed by courts in Northern Ireland, and the total hours of community punishment awarded for each of the years 1998 to 2001 (2002 information is currently not available), is as follows:
	
		Persons sentenced to community service orders and combination orders and total number of hours of community punishment imposed by all courts in Northern Ireland, 1998 to 2001
		
			 Year Persons sentenced to community punishment Total number of hours awarded (4) 
			 1998 706 86,451 
			 1999 715 91,234 
			 2000 810 96,395 
			 2001 661 66,491 
		
	
	(4) The number of hours includes those awarded for community service orders and also for the community service component of combination orders. Number of hours associated with the community service order aspect of combination orders in 2000 (55 cases) and 2001 (29 cases) is not available. Data are on the principal offence basis.
	Statistics for 2002 will be published in June 2004.
	Scotland
	The available information, from the Scottish Executive Justice Department's Court Proceedings database, shows the number of persons sentenced in courts in Scotland to community service or probation with a condition of unpaid work, and the total hours of community service for each of the years 1998 to 2002, is as follows:
	
		Persons sentenced to community service, and total number of hours of community service imposed by all courts in Scotland, 1998 to 2002(4)
		
			 Year Total (5) Total hours of community service 
			 1998 6,631 989,089 
			 1999 6,206 925,750 
			 2000 6,051 898,874 
			 2001 6,325 946,282 
			 2002 6,348 954,481 
		
	
	(5) Includes persons sentenced to community service and to probation with a requirement of unpaid work. The number of hours includes those awarded for the former, and also for the community service component of the latter.
	(6) Includes a number of cases each year where the number of hours of community service imposed is not known.

Prison and Probation Services: Cognitive Skills Programmes

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How much has been spent by the Probation Service and the Prison Service respectively on "cognitive skills" programmes; and whether they will give comparative statistics of the reconviction rates of persons who undertook these programmes, and of their control groups.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The expenditure on cognitive skills programmes for the two services is given below.
	
		Probation Service
		
			 £ million 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
			 Existing baseline   15 31 45 
			 SR 2000   15 (7)11 25 
			 Total   30 42 70 
		
	
	(7) The figures for 2002–03 and 2003–04 reflect the virement of funds as agreed with Hilary Benn in October 2002, ie a reduction of £20 million.
	The table shows annual expenditure (including some training costs), the money was spent on a suite of accredited programmes that tackle substance abuse, sex offending, violence and generic cognitive skills programmes. The completion target for 2003–04 is 15,000 offenders.
	Prison Service
	
		
			 £ million 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
			 Comprehensive Spending Review 7.3 8.4 8.9 8.9 8.9 
			 Crime Reduction Programme 0.7 1.1 1.5 – – 
			 Spending Review 2000 – – – 3.6 11.6 
			 Total 8.0 9.5 10.4 12.5 20.5 
		
	
	The table above relates to investment in establishments on offending behaviour programmes since 1999–2000. This includes generic "cognitive skills" programmes and specialist programmes for violent and sex offenders [but not drug programmes].
	In addition to this specific investment there is an element of baseline funding which can not accurately be disaggregated from establishment budgets.
	Comparison of Reconviction Rates
	The international "What Works" evidence base indicates that "cognitive skills programmes" can be effective in reducing reconviction by up to 10 percentage points. Three evaluations of the Prison Service cognitive skills programmes comparing offenders who undertook the programme with an appropriate comparison group have been published. The first evaluation of pre-accredited prison based cognitive skills programmes (Research Findings 161, Friendship et al, 2002) in England and Wales with adult men found participation produced a significant reduction in reconviction of up to 14 percentage points. The second evaluation of accredited programmes run with adult male prisoners (Research Findings 206, Falshaw et al, 2003) found no impact of participation on reconviction. The most recent evaluation (Research Findings 161, Cann et al, November 2003) found that the one-year reconviction rate for both adult men and young offender programme completers (ie dropouts removed from analysis) was significantly lower than for comparison groups. This difference was not maintained at two years and there was no impact when all programme starters were considered (ie including programme dropouts in analysis).
	An evaluation of the STOP, a cognitive skills programme which ran in Mid-Glamorgan between 1991–92 (Raynor and Vanstone 2001) found a reduction of five percentage points in reconviction rate for treated offenders compared with an untreated group at twelve months, but no difference in reconviction rates between two groups at 24 months. The research also found a reduction in the seriousness of reconviction for each of the follow-up periods for those who completed treatment.
	Independent research has been commissioned by Home Office RDSD on behalf of the National Probation Service to evaluate the accredited programmes which only became widely available in 2001 in probation areas. This will be published later in 2004. This research will compare the reconviction rate of offenders attending the programme with a suitably matched comparison group.

EU Accession Treaty: Employment in UK

Lord Bowness: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean on 5 January (WA 2) and notwithstanding the temporary restrictions contained in the European Union Accession Treaty as enacted in the European Union (Accessions) Act 2003, whether they will lay before Parliament in March 2004 regulations granting to citizens of the eight European Union accession states the right to work freely in the United Kingdom labour market from 1 May 2004.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Regulations will be laid in March setting out the conditions for allowing nationals from the new member state access to the UK labour market.

Civil Partnerships

Lord Northbourne: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they consider that civil partnerships between parents who wish to make a commitment to be responsible parents, but who are either unable or unwilling to marry, could help to increase the number of children enjoying the benefits of a stable family.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Same-sex couples, some of whom bring up children together, currently have no opportunity to obtain a legal status for their relationship. The civil partnership proposals would give them this opportunity. The Government agree that stable families provide the best environment for children, and the associated rights and responsibilities of civil partnership would help same-sex couples to provide and care for their families.
	The Government recognise that marriage is the best foundation for opposite-sex couples raising children and remains the choice of the majority of people in Britain. Opposite-sex couples who wish to obtain legal recognition for their relationships already have the choice of marriage. There are no plans to allow opposite-sex couples to register a civil partnership.